Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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Blog – Page 148

How did life originate? Ancient proteins may hold important clues. Every organism on Earth is made up of proteins. Although all organisms—even single-celled ones—have complex protein structures now, this wasn’t always the case.

For years, evolutionary biochemists assumed that most emerged from a simple signature, called a motif. However, new research suggests that this motif, without the surrounding protein, isn’t as consequential as it seemed. The study is published in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution.

The international team of researchers was led by Lynn Kamerlin, a professor in the Georgia Tech School of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Georgia Research Alliance Vasser Woolley Chair in Molecular Design, and Liam Longo, a specially appointed associate professor at the Earth-Life Science Institute at the Institute of Science Tokyo, in Japan.

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Biomarkers used to predict heart failure risk in the general population may be ineffective for assessing risk after pregnancies complicated by hypertension or diabetes, according to a study published in JAMA Cardiology.

Several adverse pregnancy outcomes, including preeclampsia and gestational , have been linked to long-term heart health risks for , said Priya Freaney, MD, ‘22 GME, assistant professor of Medicine in the Division of Cardiology, who was first author of the study.

“We know that features of complicated pregnancies can impact a woman’s heart disease risk decades later,” Freaney said. “It’s important for us to have some way to track and screen the patients that have pregnancy complications to further clarify if someone’s on a high-risk path toward and help bring their risk down with aggressive screening, prevention or early implementation of therapies.”

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Everyone’s seen Rudolph Zallinger’s “The March of Progress” illustration showcasing the evolution of humans: from early primate ape ancestor, Dryopithecus, and progressing toward modern man, Homo sapiens. Evolution is a fascinating phenomenon, but it doesn’t necessarily always follow a straight path as portrayed by Zallinger.

The idea that evolution marches from simple to complex forms, building irreversibly on each prior form has been around for a long time. Paleontologist Louis Dollo’s law states that once an organism progresses with a specialized structure, it does not revert to the previous state.

But now, a new study published in the journal Evolution is challenging the prevailing belief that life progresses unidirectionally. The findings suggest some plants can evolve backward, i.e., specialized species can revert to their more primitive forms.

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What, exactly, is your cat thinking? Scientists came up with a questionnaire in 2021 that might give you some idea of where your feline friend fits on what’s known as the triarchic model of psychopathy.

The model measures levels of boldness, meanness, and disinhibition in order to assess overall psychopathic tendencies. Ordinarily, the test is for human beings, of course, but here it’s being applied to cats.

Having completed the survey – which you can find online – you’ll be given what’s called a CAT-Tri+ measure for your pet’s level of psychopathy. The team is hoping that knowing this score can improve human and cat relationships.

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One of the most terrifying things about Dune is the fact that it rather accurately predicted what the next front of warfare will look like: genetic warfare. In twenty twenty five, gene manipulation is the biggest threat in the theatre of war, because one gene-altering weapon can render an enemy force infertile at best, and terribly mutated at worst. But that’s not something that happens to the products of breeding programmes in the Dune-verse, at least on a physical level. In this video, we will take a look at every breeding programme in Frank Herbert’s creation, and talk about their horrifying histories in detail.

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XAI’s Colossus supercomputer is set to revolutionize AI technology and significantly enhance Tesla’s capabilities in self-driving, energy reliability, and factory operations through its rapid expansion and innovative partnerships.

Questions to inspire discussion.

AI Supercomputing.
🖥️ Q: What is XAI’s Colossus data center’s current capacity? A: XAI’s Colossus data center is now fully operational for Phase 1 with 300,000 H100 equivalents, powered by 150 MW from the grid and 150 MW in Tesla Megapacks.

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I was just thinking about the 1871 book Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There by mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon, writer, and photographer, the Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (a.k.a. Lewis Carroll).

Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass continue to influence us today, not just as beloved children’s stories but as enduring works that challenge the boundaries of logic, language, and imagination.

At their heart, both books are filled with logical conundrums, puzzling paradoxes, and playful reasoning, reflecting Charles’ background in math and logic. He employed nonsensical situations and absurd dialogues to explore profound ideas about meaning, identity, time, and even mathematics, all disguised within fantastical storytelling.

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